I listened to a lot of interesting music in 2023, although most of it actually was not new music, but rather older music from different genres and scenes that I had not previously explored very much, such as IDM from artists like Squarepusher and Plaid, old techno released off the Kompakt label, and instrumental funk from artists like The Budos Band. In any case, I’ll mostly focus this post on music that actually came out this year, of which I also listened to plenty.

Albums

With no further ado, my AOTY:

I found this while browsing new releases from the Juno webshop, where the description caught my eye: “Future-folktronica at its very best.” I do not know any of these artists, and have not yet bothered to listen to any other releases from any of them, but this one-time collaboration is amazing. Danceable throughout, and unlike anything I’ve ever heard, I just can’t recommend it enough.

Other albums I can recommend include:

A fun bass album from Bristol-based duo Glume and Phossa.

A much-appreciated return to form from Fall Out Boy.

A big, danceable, electronic RnB/Pop album from Jessy Lanza off the Hyperdub label.

A modern trip-hop-inflected pop masterpiece from George Clanton:

A wonderful genre-bending indie pop entry from German artist J Vague

Singles

There were also a couple singles that stood out to me this year, even if I didn’t like the rest of the album enough to recommend the whole thing.

Going Home to a Party - JW Francis. Indie pop.

Not Worth Saving - Skyler Accord. Goth stuff.

Where the Weeds Don’t Grow - Zach Schimpf. Electronic indie pop.

Ghosting - Isolde Lasoen. Belgian indie pop.

Runner - CARSICK. Pop-punk.

DJ Mixes

I did not listen to many DJ mixes this year, but I can highly recommend this entry from the Fabric Presents series, in which Chaos in the CBD dig up a lot of great vintage house tunes.